M I LWAUKEE
A New Job in a New World: How the Marcus Center Navigates Uncertain Times By Ryan Albrechtson 2020 has been a challenge for all arts leaders. It’s hard to imagine running an arts organization during a pandemic. It’s even harder to imagine moving across the country to run an arts organization at the start of one. “My first day was March 9th,” shared Kendra Whitlock Ingram, the new President and CEO of the Marcus Center. “My first meeting of that day was Ingram to talk about whether or not we were going to be able to present our Broadway show [The Play That Goes Wrong] the following week.” Ingram replaces Paul Mathews, who served as President and CEO for 21 years. “I’ve only seen three performances at the Marcus Center,” said Ingram as the Marcus Center has been closed for in-person performances since March 16th. “We had to lay off a number of staff, and most of the remaining staff is working remotely… but we still have security in the building 24 hours a day, and we still have engineers that go in every day to maintain the building. It’s interesting, it’s not like you can just shut the lights off and say we’ll come back when there are shows.” Much of Ingram’s first few months on the job were focused on securing a PPP loan and other crisis management tactics. As those items began to play out, it became 16 | artsscene
clear that this shut down would be longer than expected. “Remember when we thought this was only going to be a couple of months?” The Marcus Center team then shifted gears to focus on ways they could use this time to update their facility, and bring people back into the venue feeling confident and safe. One of those safety measures was a complete redesign of the seating in Uihlein Hall, including adding aisles on either side of the hall in the orchestra level as well as more space between rows - making it easier to pass by other patrons. This project is set to be completed by early 2021. “We’re moving on parallel tracks and scenario planning for different things,” said Ingram. “But we are very enthusiastic and optimistic about bringing people together for live performances indoors in 2021.” Another renovation that was made was to their outdoor space, adjacent to the Pavilion Amphitheater. As the weather improves, Ingram anticipates opportunities for a lot of live performances outdoors as well. “We want to get to the point where there is enough immunity in the community to get back to live performance, because that is the nature of what we do… bringing large assemblies of people together to experience this communal and visceral experience,” said Ingram.
